Just think about Social Security, The New Deal, freeing the slaves, or child labor laws... all represent great turning points in our nation that progressives made possible. The fact is, our entire history – from our revolution to healthcare reform – is filled with progressive accomplishments, and it's hard to sell the Conservative brand to people who know that history.

Many of the today's biggest political issues, like our privacy rights, would not even be up for debate today had it not been for the attack on education. If more Americans had had a strong understanding of our history, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would have never been able to pull off the Patriot Act. And, we wouldn't be discussing the Orwellian government spy agencies like the NSA in this day and age.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/02/26/why_the_right_hates_american_history_partner/feed/642The “golden years” are gone: Why retirement is hell for American womenhttp://www.salon.com/2015/02/22/the_golden_years_are_gone_why_retirement_is_hell_for_american_women/
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/22/the_golden_years_are_gone_why_retirement_is_hell_for_american_women/#commentsSun, 22 Feb 2015 14:00:00 +0000Peter Finocchiarohttp://www.salon.com/?p=13891106Imagine you are a woman in public service in any number of states across this country. You spend your career teaching, nursing the elderly back to health, assisting the unemployed in their job search. After many years of working hard, playing by rules, supporting your children to get them through college, you retire. If you’re lucky, your state offers a public pension that gives you a modest benefit of $18,000 a year in retirement. You know you can cover the basics, make ends meet, and be secure in your retirement. But then one day, it all changes. Your state decides to deal with its self-made pension problem by cutting benefits for retired public servants. What do you do now? At 67, do you take a job waiting tables to make up the loss? Move in with your kids?

This is the story millions of women around the country are suffering through, thanks to ill-conceived efforts to gut public pension systems.

Since the start of the Great Recession, there have been battles over public pensions in dozens of states, with right-wing lawmakers and special interests looking to gut traditional pension plans that provide a stable benefit and replace them with risky, privatized accounts that are lucrative for banks, but offer little security for working people.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/02/22/the_golden_years_are_gone_why_retirement_is_hell_for_american_women/feed/77“It’s complete horse sh*t!”: Watch an Ivy League professor dismantle GOP’s austerity liehttp://www.salon.com/2015/02/09/its_complete_horse_sht_watch_an_ivy_league_professor_dismantle_gops_austerity_lie/
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/09/its_complete_horse_sht_watch_an_ivy_league_professor_dismantle_gops_austerity_lie/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 16:45:00 +0000Elias Isquithhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13880307As devoted readers of Paul Krugman know well, there’s plenty of evidence from the last six years indicating that austerity, the idea that the government can best boost the economy by engaging in significant tax hikes as well as spending cuts, simply doesn’t work — at least not in today’s economic conditions. With the U.S. going through a period of significant GDP growth, a decrease in the unemployment rate and a falling deficit, it’s a lesson that holds less salience today than it did in years past. But in the eurozone economy, the application of “expansionary austerity” has been vigorous — and rather unsuccessful.

But with the victory of the anti-austerity party Syriza in Greece’s recent election, the state-of-play in Europe has changed dramatically. After years of economic pain and dislocation, Greek citizens now have a reason — however small — to hope that political pressure may force the leaders of the eurozone (German Chancellor Angela Merkel, first and foremost) to reevaluate their approach. Still, years of failure have not loosened austerity’s grip on much of the West; the appeal of the economic philosophy to its proponents seems to operate beyond the level of simple reason.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/02/09/its_complete_horse_sht_watch_an_ivy_league_professor_dismantle_gops_austerity_lie/feed/230EXCLUSIVE: “That’s outrageous! And incorrect and sexist!”: Sen. Gillibrand unloads to Salonhttp://www.salon.com/2015/02/09/exclusive_%e2%80%9cthat%e2%80%99s_outrageous_and_incorrect_and_sexist%e2%80%9d_sen_gillibrand_unloads_to_salon/
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/09/exclusive_%e2%80%9cthat%e2%80%99s_outrageous_and_incorrect_and_sexist%e2%80%9d_sen_gillibrand_unloads_to_salon/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 15:58:00 +0000Joan Walshhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13880408Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s book “Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World” got a lot of attention for its stories about male congressional colleagues sharing their unsolicited opinions about her body and her beauty. ““Don’t lose too much weight now. I like my girls chubby!” is the one I can recite from memory. You may have your own favorite.

Personally, I was most impressed by the number of times in the book she described herself using the word “fuck” – and not a euphemism like “F-word” -- in political combat (three, to be exact, though a few may have been redacted before publication). This was before IDGAF became a kind of feminist war cry. It showed the combativeness and comfort with herself that has come to be associated with New York’s junior senator.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/02/09/exclusive_%e2%80%9cthat%e2%80%99s_outrageous_and_incorrect_and_sexist%e2%80%9d_sen_gillibrand_unloads_to_salon/feed/18“People could die and that’s OK”: Why the right’s free-market health philosophy is ludicroushttp://www.salon.com/2015/02/03/people_could_die_and_thats_ok_why_the_rights_free_market_health_philosophy_is_ludicrous/
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/03/people_could_die_and_thats_ok_why_the_rights_free_market_health_philosophy_is_ludicrous/#commentsTue, 03 Feb 2015 22:31:00 +0000bzeffhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13877497It was startling to see physician and Senator Rand Paul claim the other day that people on disability were faking bad backs and anxiety to get on the dole and cheat the taxpayers. These are real ailments, sometimes totally debilitating, as anyone who has suffered from either can tell you. Severe back pain can make it impossible to work at any job, even those which only require sitting. Anxiety disorder is a terrible condition that can even make some people unable to even leave their house. What kind of medical doctor would deny such a thing? (If you answered, "one who will willingly trade his professional integrity for political points" you'd be right.)

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/02/03/people_could_die_and_thats_ok_why_the_rights_free_market_health_philosophy_is_ludicrous/feed/411Tea Partyers, union members, Democrats, Republicans — all love Social Security. So let’s expand it!http://www.salon.com/2015/01/31/tea_partyers_union_members_democrats_republicans_all_love_social_security_so_lets_expand_it/
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/31/tea_partyers_union_members_democrats_republicans_all_love_social_security_so_lets_expand_it/#commentsSat, 31 Jan 2015 11:30:00 +0000rhenrichsalonhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13872456Suddenly, unexpectedly, in the aftermath of the midterms, Democrats seem to have rediscovered their economic populist voice. As I pointed out in my recent story “Now They're Sliming Elizabeth Warren,” there's no single-bullet solution to economic inequality, but there are heartening signs and popular efforts underway on a broad range of fronts: minimum wage, overtime pay, wage theft and more on the raising wages side of things, and on the spending side, increases on infrastructure, education and, above all, Social Security. All these fronts are important, but none more so than Social Security, which has long been under sustained attack from the right, because of, not despite, its success and popularity. If you hate government, there's nothing you hate more than a government program that everyone loves.

But it's not just its right-wing enemies that threaten Social Security; its eager-to-compromise centrist and neoliberal “friends” pose even more of a threat, muddying the waters and trying to silence those who stand up for Social Security unapologetically, calling for it to be strengthened and expanded.

Female voters are split, particularly by marriage between the Democrats and Republicans. Married women slightly prefer Republicans, while single women overwhelmingly prefer Democrats. The reason is simple: In an economic system that overwhelmingly favors the married, single women tend to live more precariously and rely on programs that Republicans want to eviscerate. And there's another factor that will only increase such discrepancies: Conservatives are increasingly pushing to cut programs for seniors. In our economy, where care-taking responsibilities fall overwhelmingly to women, this will mean more women will have to shoulder the burden of healthcare. Austerity will burden women, particularly women of color.

It's a superb representative of one major form of elite counter-attack in defense of the 1 percent, updated for the current moment, as the 2016 election cycle begins to take shape.

As the story's subhead spells the argument out, “Elizabeth Warren and her Democratic allies should not fool themselves into thinking that Americans who are angry at elites and corporations also favor wealth redistribution.” To begin with, Etzioni warns:

The debate between Democrats who want to play up populist themes (let’s call them the Elizabeth Warren camp) and those who favor centrist ones (the Hillary Clinton crowd) ignores a major division among the various themes that carry the populist label. The difference is crucial because, as we will see shortly, the data show that some populist ideas are much less popular than others.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/01/17/now_theyre_sliming_elizabeth_warren_fox_news_tactics_and_the_surprising_water_carriers_for_the_1_percent/feed/350“Join the club”: Rand Paul mocks people on disabilityhttp://www.salon.com/2015/01/14/join_the_club_rand_paul_mocks_people_on_disability/
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/14/join_the_club_rand_paul_mocks_people_on_disability/#commentsWed, 14 Jan 2015 21:04:00 +0000Luke Brinkerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13863019How's that GOP rebrand going, you ask? Just in the last few days, a Republican congressman compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler; it emerged that Steve Scalise, the third-ranking House Republican, who spoke before a white supremacist group in 2002, voted as a Louisiana legislator against apologizing for slavery; and the GOP-controlled House passed a bill that would overturn President Obama's executive actions sparing up to 5 million unauthorized immigrants from deportation. Meeting with legislators in New Hampshire on Wednesday, likely GOP presidential hopeful added disabled people to the group of Americans the party has insulted this week.

The Kentucky senator asserted that the Social Security benefits program is riddled with fraud, with most people who draw benefits suffering from nothing more serious than anxiety or back pain.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/01/14/join_the_club_rand_paul_mocks_people_on_disability/feed/146Tom Steyer’s lesser-known activism: “Progressive” billionaire is a big deficit hawkhttp://www.salon.com/2015/01/14/tom_steyers_lesser_known_activism_progressive_billionaire_is_a_big_deficit_hawk/
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/14/tom_steyers_lesser_known_activism_progressive_billionaire_is_a_big_deficit_hawk/#commentsWed, 14 Jan 2015 19:30:00 +0000Luke Brinkerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13862842Making the case against Tom Steyer's increasingly likely run for California Senate earlier this week, I argued that Steyer should step aside for three reasons: First, the billionaire investor, climate activist, and Democratic megadonor would be a more effective advocate for action to combat global warming from the outside. Relatedly, I noted, the Democratic candidates looking at the race share Steyer's views on climate change, so it's unclear what he would bring to the race, other than a more intensive focus on the climate crisis. Finally, I wrote, Steyer would be nearly 60 come Election Day 2016, and he almost certainly has no future on the national stage; better to clear the way for younger, more promising candidates who could build up Senate seniority and potentially go on to seek higher office, as most observers expect newly announced candidate Kamala Harris to do someday. But I was adamant that my opposition to a Steyer bid did not stem from any objectionable views he had conveyed.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/01/14/tom_steyers_lesser_known_activism_progressive_billionaire_is_a_big_deficit_hawk/feed/15EXCLUSIVE: Sherrod Brown on GOP’s “shameful” plans, economic populism — and those teenage lettershttp://www.salon.com/2015/01/14/exclusive_sherrod_brown_on_gops_shameful_plans_economic_populism_and_those_teenage_letters/
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/14/exclusive_sherrod_brown_on_gops_shameful_plans_economic_populism_and_those_teenage_letters/#commentsWed, 14 Jan 2015 13:30:00 +0000Elias Isquithhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13862234As Salon noted earlier this month, one of the very first things the new all-GOP Congress did (literally on day one) was to make an arcane rule change that many say could result ultimately in cutting Social Security. While a number of liberal groups and groups devoted to protecting Social Security (not always one-and-the-same) immediately sent up a warning cry, few politicians have been as forceful in their denunciation of the move as Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who recently described the move as "dangerous" and warned it will "set the stage to cut benefits for seniors and disabled Americans."

To hear more from the senator about Social Security's imperiled future, as well as what he and his fellow Democrats in the Senate will try to do to preserve it, Salon spoke with Brown over the phone yesterday. In addition to Social Security, our conversation touched on House Democrats' ambitious new plan to cut taxes for the middle class, Antonio Weiss' decision to withdraw his nomination to the Treasury, and Brown's reaction to recently unearthed letters of his from his youth decrying then-President Nixon and championing social justice. Our conversation is below and has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/01/14/exclusive_sherrod_brown_on_gops_shameful_plans_economic_populism_and_those_teenage_letters/feed/28GOP’s new attack on Social Security: Yet another result of government for the 1 percenthttp://www.salon.com/2015/01/07/gops_new_attack_on_social_security_yet_another_result_of_government_for_the_1_percent/
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/07/gops_new_attack_on_social_security_yet_another_result_of_government_for_the_1_percent/#commentsWed, 07 Jan 2015 19:53:00 +0000Elias Isquithhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13857613As I and manyothers wrote at the time, one of the few unifying characteristics of last year’s midterm elections was their paucity of greater meaning. Granted, that’s always the case with midterms, at least to some degree, when the literally hundreds of federal and state-level elections lack a presidential campaign around which to position themselves. But as I argued then and still believe today, the 2014 cycle was especially perfunctory, especially shambolic and especially tangential to the truly important issues facing the United States today. And voters seemed to agree — or at least that’s my explanation for why so few of them bothered to show up.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/01/07/gops_new_attack_on_social_security_yet_another_result_of_government_for_the_1_percent/feed/46You might have to work forever: The honest reality about Social Security and retirementhttp://www.salon.com/2015/01/03/you_might_have_to_work_forever_the_honest_reality_about_social_security_and_retirement/
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/03/you_might_have_to_work_forever_the_honest_reality_about_social_security_and_retirement/#commentsSat, 03 Jan 2015 13:00:00 +0000davedaleyhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13850342Just 30 years ago, most American workers were able to stop working in their early sixties and enjoy a long and comfortable retirement. This “golden age” of retirement security reflected the culmination of efforts that started more than a century ago when employers first set up pensions. Gradually, over decades, we built an effective system with Social Security and Medicare as the universal foundation and traditional pensions—where the employer was responsible for all the saving and investment decisions—providing a solid supplement for about half the workforce. The increasing provision of retirement support allowed people to retire earlier and earlier.

This brief golden age is now over. Because of economic and demographic developments, our retirement income systems are contracting just as our need for retirement income is growing. On the income side, Social Security is replacing less of our preretirement income; traditional defined benefit pension plans have been displaced by 401(k)s with modest balances; and employers are dropping retiree health benefits. On the needs side, longer lifespans, rising health care costs, and low interest rates all require a much bigger nest egg to maintain our standard of living. The result of all these changes is that millions of us will not have enough money for the comfortable retirement that our parents and grandparents enjoyed.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/01/03/you_might_have_to_work_forever_the_honest_reality_about_social_security_and_retirement/feed/276Democrats vs. the New Deal: Who really runs the party — and why it might surprise youhttp://www.salon.com/2014/12/09/democrats_vs_the_new_deal_who_really_runs_the_party_and_why_it_might_surprise_you/
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/09/democrats_vs_the_new_deal_who_really_runs_the_party_and_why_it_might_surprise_you/#commentsTue, 09 Dec 2014 11:59:00 +0000bzeffhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13839863In the aftermath of the shellacking they took in the midterm congressional and state elections, many Democrats are calling for their party to return to its New Deal roots.

This is inadvertently comical. The present-day Democratic Party has next to nothing to do with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal or Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. Today’s Democratic Party is a completely different party, which coalesced between 1968 and 1980. And this half-century-old party has been anti-New Deal from the very beginning.

Now that I have your attention, allow me to explain.

While there have been two parties called “the Democrats” and “the Republicans” since the mid-19th century, these enduring labels mask the fact that party coalitions change every generation or two. Franklin Roosevelt created a new party under the old name of “the Democrats” by welding ex-Republican Progressives in the North together with the old Jacksonian Farmer-Labor coalition. The contentious issue of civil rights nearly destroyed the Roosevelt Democrats in 1948 — and finally wrecked it in 1968, when George Wallace’s third party campaign proved to be a way-station for many working-class whites en route from the Democrats to the Republicans.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/12/09/democrats_vs_the_new_deal_who_really_runs_the_party_and_why_it_might_surprise_you/feed/98Conservatives’ pockmarked past: Who owns the soul of America?http://www.salon.com/2014/12/06/conservatives_pockmarked_past_who_owns_the_soul_of_america/
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/06/conservatives_pockmarked_past_who_owns_the_soul_of_america/#commentsSat, 06 Dec 2014 14:30:00 +0000bzeffhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13837836Republicans are determined to dismantle Obamacare, not because they have any chance at succeeding–the president’s veto can’t be overridden–but because it’s of a piece with everything else they’ve been doing to embarrass this two-term chief executive. They do so, they say, in the name of conservatism.

Now, name one program since Eisenhower, initiated by conservatives in Congress, that the nation looks back on and breathes a collective sigh, on the order of: “Whew, we dodged a bullet when we reversed that progressive misstep.” The left reflects proudly on the strongest part of its history: Where would we be without Social Security and Medicare? It was the Truman administration that integrated the armed forces, and it was Lyndon Johnson who openly embraced the civil rights movement and helped advance the cause of social justice. Conservatives were wary of these initiatives at the time they were publicly debated. Do gays make good parents? Would gay marriage do irreparable harm to the American family tradition? Would the Affordable Care Act create death panels? It takes less and less time these days for conservatives to be proven wrong, to have panicked.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/12/06/conservatives_pockmarked_past_who_owns_the_soul_of_america/feed/348Congress finally agrees on something: Nazis shouldn’t get a dime of Social Securityhttp://www.salon.com/2014/12/02/congress_finally_agrees_on_something_nazis_shouldnt_get_a_dime_of_social_security/
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/02/congress_finally_agrees_on_something_nazis_shouldnt_get_a_dime_of_social_security/#commentsTue, 02 Dec 2014 21:33:00 +0000Joanna Rothkopfhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13834989When our political parties disagree with each other basically just for the hell of it (I am talking about right now), it is worth celebrating when a cause has such inherent value that it transcends party lines. I am so happy to announce that such a cause has been found, and such consensus has been reached: Nazis shouldn't get Social Security.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives reportedly voted unanimously to pass the No Social Security for Nazis Act, which would strip suspected war criminals of their Social Security benefits.

Warner -- who prevailed over GOP challenger Ed Gillespie by less than a percentage point, despite polls suggesting the Democrat boasted a double-digit lead -- is practically giddy that Mitch McConnell will take over as Senate majority leader in the 114th Congress.

“I think Mark, he’s going to have a little more fun in this next Congress even though he’s in the minority,” retiring GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia told the Washington Post in a new profile of Warner. “Because he’s a guy that wants to get things done.”

Indeed, ask Warner himself, and he'll tell you that he's practically a new man. Behold -- Warner the Great Centrist Savior has arrived.

Now that Boehner has reached the eligibility age for two social insurance programs Republicans have targeted for cuts, Pelosi welcomed Boehner to the safety net:

[embedtweet id=534355186337476609]

But if Boehner had his way, future seniors wouldn't be eligible for the programs at 65. He has endorsed raising the Medicare eligibility age to 67, and backed raising the Social Security age to 70. Moreover, Boehner supported Paul Ryan's plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program, and he has called for a change in the inflation measurements used to calculate Social Security -- a proposal that would effectively cut benefits.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/11/17/nancy_pelosi_brilliantly_trolls_john_boehner_on_his_65th_birthday/feed/18Get ready for Ryancare, America! Why GOP’s all set to end Medicare as we know ithttp://www.salon.com/2014/11/12/get_ready_for_ryancare_america_why_gops_all_set_to_end_medicare_as_we_know_it/
http://www.salon.com/2014/11/12/get_ready_for_ryancare_america_why_gops_all_set_to_end_medicare_as_we_know_it/#commentsWed, 12 Nov 2014 21:42:00 +0000Joan Walshhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13819492I’m not someone who saw a silver lining in Democrats losing the Senate. But if there is one, it may lie in letting Republicans lay out their wildly unpopular plans for “governing.”

As if walking into a trap set by the other party – except Democrats are too broken to set traps right now -- GOP congressional leaders are promising to act immediately on their budget-slashing ideas when 2015 begins. High on their list, according to the New York Times, is implementing Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to “overhaul” Medicare by replacing it with “premium support” vouchers designed to privatize the system over the coming decades. They will also form a commission to examine “options” for Social Security, which Ryan has also long favored privatizing.

The GOP won voters over 65 by 16 points last week. Culture and conservatism may keep most of those voters Republican, but if congressional conservatives go along with those plans, Democrats might have a shot at them.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/11/12/get_ready_for_ryancare_america_why_gops_all_set_to_end_medicare_as_we_know_it/feed/746Wall Street Democrats’ wake-up call: Why center-right policies make for horrible politicshttp://www.salon.com/2014/11/03/wall_street_democrats_wake_up_call_why_center_right_policies_make_for_horrible_politics/
http://www.salon.com/2014/11/03/wall_street_democrats_wake_up_call_why_center_right_policies_make_for_horrible_politics/#commentsMon, 03 Nov 2014 19:36:00 +0000Luke Brinkerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13812457Over the weekend, the New York Times took note of Rhode Island's surprisingly competitive gubernatorial race, in which Democratic nominee Gina Raimondo, the state treasurer, barely leads Republican candidate Allan Fung, the mayor of Cranston, in the polls. Raimondo finds herself in a close contest in large part, the Times observes, because of the unpopularity of her radical restructuring of the state's pension system as treasurer. While the right-wing Wall Street Journal editorial page and Raimondo's financial industry backers applauded her pension "reforms," she earned the enmity of public employees when she slashed their guaranteed retirement income and redirected pension investments toward the hedge fund industry, never bothering to consult with public employee unions in the process. Raimondo's vulnerability heading into tomorrow's election underscores the political pitfalls for Democrats of pursuing policies that please plutocrats and other Very Serious People at the expense of the common good.